This isn’t a website intended to change the world. Who am I to try to change the world? I am just a regular free spirited, music loving, vegetarian teenage girl living in the Midwest trying to figure out who I am and how I can have a positive impact on the world. LifewithLiv is my journey through the lens of a camera and my weird thoughts/wild experiences put into words.

Raoul du Toit is a Zimbabwe rhino conservationist who has helped to keep the few critically endangered black rhinos there alive. Their habitat is shrinking and poaching is a constant pressure as rhino horn powder now reportedly sells for $50,000 per kilogram.

Demand is driven by the false notion that rhino horn has medicinal properties; it is really mostly keratin, a protein also in human fingernails and hair. The demand is so voracious and obsessive that the number of black rhinos in Africa may be down to 3,000, from over 65,000 in the
1960s.

Zimbabwe is home to the fourth largest rhino population. Du Toit works in the southern part of the country, and has established the Lowveld Rhino Trust with help from the International Rhino Foundation. He has helped protect 350 black rhinos in southern Zimbabwe, particularly made difficult by economic volatility and political upheaval which increased poaching. He established the Lowveld Rhino Trust to help secure larger parcels of wild habitat–areas that currently make life possible for about 80 percent of the country’s wild rhinos. As a result of his efforts, only 21 rhinos were killed in the area where he works in 2010, down from 79 in 2009.

For his dedication and heroic efforts, he has been awarded a Goldman Prize, which is one of the most coveted environmental awards. Besides recognition as a winner, his organization will receive $150,000 for the continued fight against illegal rhino poaching and protecting their habitat.

He said, “Conserving rhinos saves much more than the rhino themselves–they are flagships for biodiversity and for national development based upon sustainable wildlife management in Africa.” (Source: Goldmanprize.org)

Join the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Association of Zookeepers, Inc in their annual “Bowling for Rhinos” fundraiser on Saturday, April 30, 2011. 100% of all individual donation money goes directly to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (LWC) in Kenya, Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia
and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP) in Sumatra, Indonesia.

LWC (formerly Ngare Sergoi Sanctuary) is a 65,000 acre protected area that is home to the endangered black and white rhino. Ujung Kulon is a 300 sq. mile protected area that is home to the last 47 Javan rhinos in the world! BBSNP is 3,568 sq. kms of lush tropical rainforest where the Sumatran rhino, along with elephant, tiger, and Malayan sun bear, live. All three support an entire ecosystem including some of the world’s most endangered plants and animals.

You can pledge your support by:

1. Bowling: $10/bowler (cash/check payable to AAZK Indy) Includes: three games of bowling, shoe rental, music entertainment, a chance to win door prizes, discounts for dinner at the snack bar (cash only), and free dessert.
2. Raise money: Ask family, friends, and co-workers to help you support rhino conservation. Participants who have at least $20 in donations receive a free “Bowling For Rhinos” T-shirt and a chance to win some awesome prizes! Whomever raises the most donations will receive a behind-the-scenes tour for six people to see the Indianapolis Zoo’s white rhinos! Click here for a printable donation form.
3. Prize Donations: Donate an item(s) to be given away as a silent auction or door prize.
4. Sponsor the event: There are several perks available for helping sponsor this event.

AAZK Inc. is a volunteer non-profit 501c(3) organization of professionals dedicated to professional zoological animal care and conservation. All contributions are tax deductible upon request.

SEND AN RSPV FOR YOU AND EACH OF YOUR TEAM MEMBERS BY APRIL 15 FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN INDIANAPOLIS ZOO MEMBERSHIP TO KEEP OR GIVE AS A GIFT!

(Teams that RSVP will be given priority when lane assignments are made.)